Interpersonal Critique of Dumb and Dumber
Introduction
The purpose of a comedy film is obviously to make you laugh. However, there are comedies that really make you laugh out loud, put you through suspense, action, and the ultimate result would be a funny thrilling experience; Dumb and Dumber is one of such films. In this 1994 blockbuster, two dim-witted friends accidentally steal a suitcase full of money; it becomes very comical when they try to return the money to the rightful owner. This paper will review the movie Dumb and Dumber and expound on how it is packed with interpersonal communication.
In this comic movie, renowned actors, Jim Carey and Jeff Daniels acts as the pair dumb friends namely Harry and Lloyd who set out on a long country cross in a mission trip to return a briefcase full of money to a beautiful lady who was the rightful owner named Mary Swanson. Nonetheless, the two friends are not aware of the bigger conspiracy that is involving the lady and the briefcase, and also a pair of criminals who are involved the attempt to chase Lloyd and Harry down for the briefcase. Lloyd Christmas is a limousine driver while his best friend who also sums up as his roommate, Harry Dunne is an operator at a mobile pet grooming Service Company called “Mutt Cutts”. One day Lylod is picks up a wealthy client for a ride to the airport.
According to Llyod, this customer was the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. Little did he know that, this lady was a victim of an elaborate extortion by kidnappers whom had requested her for ransom so that her kidnapped husband would be set free. Unfortunately, Mary Swanson forgets the briefcase at the terminal, without knowing the content of the briefcase, good nurtured but dim witted Llyod tries to return it to her, but she had already boarded her Aspen-bound plane. As they the two friends takes the briefcase which contains nearly $5 Million, their friendship is put to test all along the way, curiosity is prevalent when one is watching this movie, will they ever make it to Aspen and enjoy the highlife that they have always dreamt of? Or will they face the full wrath of the kidnappers and the FBI?
Background
Dumb and Dumber was a box office hit that topped the holiday season film gross of the year1995 by raking in more than $250million worldwide sales. Although the film failed to win any major American awards, it was considered very successful at the 1995 MTV Movie Awards. Additionally, Jim Carrey won the best Comic performance as a result of this film. This film was written and directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly, popular known as the Farrelly brothers. Surprisingly, this was the Farrelly brothers’ directorial debut. Dumb and Dumber premiered on December 16, 1994 after which it instantly started received numerous positive reviews from critics, this became the foundation for its commercial success. The IMDb gave the film a 7.3/10 rating while Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 64% rating on its Tomato meter. It is this success of this film that launched the careers of the Farrelly brothers and also solidified that of Jim Carey’s. Although this is by no means a perfect film, most reviews claimed that it was well photographed and had the type of plucky spontaneity and a crisply pace that is not very common in contemporary comedy films. It was successful as it was able to combine a little action and comedy from the stupidity of this two friends to create a thrilling experience to its audience.
Interpersonal communication themes
In Dumb and Dumber, numerous interpersonal communication themes become prevalent. These interpersonal communication aspects uses the stupidity of the main characters to show factors such as self esteem, psychological noise and emotion contagion which are all causes that largely affect our day to day interpersonal communications. For instance, when Llyod went to the apartment that the lady was living in with the aim of driving her to the airport, he gently knocked at her door. After she answered the door, Lloyd found himself saying things that he normally does not say due to the fact that he had instantly fallen in love with his client. I found this scene to being a great example that can be used to show how psychological noise happens sine he ended up saying things beyond his usual self. Additionally, it shows the Halo effect in action, the Halo effect occurs when an individual shows tendency to show positive mannerism or impression during communication based on the respondent’s positive characters. Noise is considered one of the major distractions that may prevent the transmission of a message. At this scene, Llyod has fallen in love with the lady at first-sight; therefore psychological noise occurs because the thoughts that are running across the mind of Llyod are greatly interfering with his conversation with his client.
The main theme of this film is to show how people would react to different situations and also how friends can react to varied circumstances. At a different scene, Llyod showed instances of self-concept, self-esteem and empathy in the course of his communications with Harry. Llyod told Harry that he wants to go and take the briefcase to the lady in Aspen and wanted his company, but Harry declined to his request. Llyod started telling Harry how he has no one in his life that he can count on and he even does not love himself. These complain compelled Harry to join him in his endeavor. This is another factor that affects interpersonal communication: Self-esteem, empathy and Self-concept. It becomes evident that Lloyd is experiencing numerous self-esteem issues that he capitalizes on during his conversations with other people. The communication between the two friends is largely based on their emotions. Harry shows empathy because he wanted Llyod to know that he understands him and will always be there for him.
In conclusion, despite the fact that most films, especially comedy ones ends with the main characters at happy endings, this was not the case with Dumb and Dumber. This film ends with Llyod and Harry wandering down a dusty desert road. At this time, all the items that they had bought using the ransom money had been confiscated and were left poorer than they were before. Additionally, this pair of dumb friends unknowingly declined a chance to become oil boys for a certain group of Hawaiian Tropic girls. All in all, the two are still optimistic that their big “break” day was to come soon as they play a friendly game of tag that brings the movie to the end.
Works Cited
Farrelly,peter. Bobby, Farrely. (1994) Dumb and Dumber, (Film) Motion Picture Corporation Of
America.
